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We’re taking steps to overcome COVID-19 challenges

UHS is taking a number of steps to battle the many challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.(Photo: Hirurg, Getty Images)

UHS is taking a number of steps to battle the many challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past few weeks, UHS teams and facilities have inaugurated a vast and intense series of actions and responses to the virus, including the following:

We are encouraging the “virtual visit” as the first way to access healthcare. In an effort to maintain everyone’s safety and reduce the risk to our patients, providers and staff during COVID-19, UHS has expanded its Virtual Health options to include primary care, specialty care and therapy services. Patients are asked to call the office of their physician, advanced practice provider or therapist. The clinician will determine if a visit through Virtual Health is right for them and, if so, will schedule a virtual appointment. A Virtual Health visit allows the patient to see and hear their provider in real time through a secure platform. Click here for additional information or to register for an account.

UHS teams have been working diligently to care for patients while keeping each other safe as well. One substantive action has been the expansion of negative-pressure room capacity at UHS Wilson Medical Center, UHS Binghamton General Hospital and UHS Delaware Valley Hospital. These capabilities were developed in the event that Greater Binghamton should realize a surge of both suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases. A large number of negative-pressure rooms have been added, along with anterooms where staff can change in and out of personal protective clothing more efficiently and safely. Negative room pressure is an isolation technique used in hospitals and medical centers to prevent cross-contamination from room to room. It includes a ventilation method that generates negative pressure to allow air to flow into the isolation room but not escape from the room. Air naturally flows from areas with higher pressure to those with lower pressure, thereby preventing contaminated air from escaping the room.

When orders for standard, disposable surgical masks of the kind worn by frontline healthcare workers became back orders due to high demand, UHS staff sprang into action to create or acquire a sufficient supply of cloth masks. According to the CDC, fabric masks are a crisis response option when other supplies have been exhausted, plus they can also be worn by staff who don't have frontline clinical roles. A number of groups and individuals in the community began making washable cloth masks and donating them to the hospital. One group, led by Stephanie Woolever, PMP, a project manager in UHS' Information Services Department, has donated 620 masks to UHS, 580 to Ascension Lourdes and 225 to the Veterans' Home in Oxford, as well as 25 headbands to the Bridgewater nursing home.

We are using an application that our 6,500 employees can access on their mobile devices to keep up to the minute on news and information across our healthcare system. With so many employees at home and unable to connect to the Intranet, the information presented on the “UHS Connections App” becomes all the more important. We are keeping the app updated with all the latest developments on anything related to COVID-19, making it a go-to source for reliable information. Well-informed employees can do their jobs better and ensure a better experience for the patient.

A “Face Shield Team” at UHS is closing in on a milestone of having made 5,640 shields. The team at UHS Hospitals has made 4,140 face shields to date, with members expecting to make another 1,500 in one day. Groups of employees at other UHS System member organizations are also creating and distributing their own shields. The teams continue to adjust the design and procure different supplies in an effort to make development more efficient. Dozens of UHS caregivers and staff are working to assemble these critical items, which are needed by UHS clinicians providing face-to-face patient care during the COVID-19 crisis.

Starting April 4, the UHS Pharmacy at Wilson Place extended its hours of operation to include Saturday and Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The retail pharmacy is located at 52 Harrison St., across from UHS Wilson Medical Center, in Johnson City. On weekdays, it is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Two other pharmacy locations--UHS Vestal Pharmacy, 4417 Vestal Parkway East, and UHS Binghamton General Hospital Pharmacy at 33 Mitchell Ave.--also maintain weekend, as well as weekday, hours.

Any patient who needs a prescription filled but is too ill to pick it up at a UHS Pharmacy can ask that it be mailed to them. This applies to both new medications and refills. The patient should contact their UHS Pharmacy during regular business hours and request interim mail service. If you’re using the phone attendant system, choose the option for mailing, or leave a message to have your prescription mailed on an interim basis. If you talk directly to a pharmacy staff member, let them know that you would like your medication to be mailed. Prescriptions called in for processing will go out in the mail the next day. They will be sent priority mail, for a two-business-day arrival. Typically the turnaround from time of call-in to arrival is a total of three business days. You will be called if there is a delay in getting your prescription to you for any reason.

UHS recently expanded its retail pharmacy locations. The pharmacies are located as follows.